…We are enforcing existing law – EFCC
…We will resist it – Bank Employees
…It could be a fruitless exercise – Legal Practitioner
BEVERLY HILLS, March 22, (THEWILL) – The industrial harmony that has pervaded Nigeria’s financial services sector currently engaged with unveiling their statutory annual reports and conducting shareholders’ meetings, may be heading for a turmoil soonest. This follows a directive of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to all bank employees to declare their assets “in accordance with the Bank Employee’s Declaration of Assets Act”.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this on March 17, while speaking with journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja.
Bawa said the Act requires every bank employee to make full disclosure of all assets within 14 days of assuming duty with a bank, adding that the Commission has set a June 1 deadline for the bank workers to comply with the directive.
He said his discussion with the President centred on the efforts of the Commission towards the eradication of financial crimes in the country, explaining that the move was aimed at checking the role of banks in keeping funds acquired illegitimately.
“Let me just put this, we understood that at the tail end of every financial crime is for the criminal to have access to the funds that he or she has illegitimately gotten and we’re worried about the roles of financial institutions.
“We have discussed, but we hope that all financial institutions, particularly the bankers, will declare their assets as provided for by the law, in accordance with the Bank Employees Declaration of Assets Act.
“The EFCC, come the 1st of June 2021, will be demanding for these asset declaration forms, filled by the bankers so that the line that we have drawn from the 1st of June is really complied with by bankers in particular.”
Most of the bank executives contacted declined to speak on the matter; those who did insisted on not having their names published “for obvious reasons”. Some middle-level and junior members of staff who volunteered to respond also preferred speaking on point of anonymity.
An executive with a new generation bank expressed displeasure about the development. He indicated concern that the move might open a chapter of industrial disharmony in the financial services sector which is yet to recover from the crisis of Covid-19 and #EndSARS protest.
“This government has lost focus; the leaders go to bed with a headache and wake up with a stomach ache in the morning. They are always experiencing a bad dream. They have all the sophisticated security and intelligence network to track illicit funds and locate where they are. Why disturb an ordinary bank employee who is battling with all-round stress and uncertainty that surround him?”, the banker spoke on phone from their head office in Lagos.
A middle-level female employee of an old generation bank in Abuja told THEWILL that many bank workers might voluntarily disengage from the system to avoid being trapped in a battle between government and bank executives.
“It is better to avoid getting involved with this government because they could deliberately make life miserable for you for no just cause. Asset or no asset, if they want to rubbish you, they will do it. Remember what happened at the Supreme Court?”, she said in a phone chat.
A Legal Practitioner familiar with bank-related cases, Victor Ukutt, supports the action of EFCC. Mr Ukutt, Principal Partner, Victor Ukutt & Co, told THEWILL that many bank employees live above their real means and that they also engage in massive fraud that makes them live bigger than their real worth.
Ukutt said he had handled many bank-employee related matters which proved that some bank workers engage in fraud that harms both their employers and the bank customers.
“How can a bank employee earning N400 thousand in a month own assets like petrol station, housing estate, posh car, hotel, among others? Some operate in syndicate which makes it difficult for you to trace them and identify the real perpetrator. Some have since disengaged from their places of work while others have relocated abroad; I do not know how the EFCC is going to recover such stolen assets”, Ukutt told THEWILL through telephone.
He also disclosed that some top bank officials fraudulently outsource many positions that require being filled by regular employees. “They outsource the jobs to their own firms or their friends’ or relatives’ with huge consultancy fee. The consultant in turn pays the outsourced worker peanut as salary. The system is rotten and I support what EFCC is doing”, Ukutt added.
A retired bank executive now running a consulting firm in Lagos said the move will put many bank executives in trouble because of their involvement in acts of money laundry and other financial crimes. He argued that EFCC would not embark on the exercise if it did not see something suspicious. “Many bank chiefs are in trouble, I can tell you for sure.”
THEWILL contacted the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) but could not speak with the President said to be out of the office. However, the head of research and strategy, Comrade Zaka Adekunle, said the Association was aware of the development and that appropriate actions were being taken. “We are strategizing”, Adekunle said in a telephone chat.
When contacted, the Deputy General Secretary, National Union of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (UBIFIE), Sola Aboderin, said the Union was not against the government enforcing its policy. He however stressed that any policy that would jeopardize the welfare of their members would be resisted.
He queried why the EFCC would not extend its searchlight to government parastatals that control public funds such as the Customs, NNPC, Ports Authority.
“Why only banks, what about government establishments that are really controlling public funds. Secondly, who really are bank employees? The banks outsource most of the positions such as tellers, marketers and those doing the core job. These people are not regarded and treated as bank employees.
“Those in HR, ICT and Legal departments are not the ones doing the banking job, yet they are engaged as permanent employees. But the ones exposed to the risk of banking are not treated as bank employees. How would you then tell them to declare their assets? Are they declaring to their employers – the consulting firms, or to the banks they are outsourced to? I can assure you that we will resist it,” Aboderin said in a telephone conversation.
The corporate communications officials of the banks contacted declined to speak on the matter. An insider source, however, told this newspaper that many bank executives are already jittery about the development. Coming at the time the banks are rounding off their 2020 transactions and declaring dividends, the source said the development will expose many bank chiefs.
“This government is broke and is looking for money anywhere. Yesterday, it was unclaimed dividend and dormant bank account balances. Today, it is bank workers’ asset declaration. Why is EFCC just realizing that the law had been there?”, the source asked.
Barrister Ukutt stressed that the matter was not as straightforward as the EFCC had thought because, as he put it, the system is awkward and those involved are smart.
“What is happening in the banks is happening in government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). Many of these people live big in hard times. Even those that want to enforce the Law are also not clean. The EFCC might be engaging in a fruitless exercise because the entire system is rotten. The man declaring his asset may not be the one holding the money you are looking for.”
When contacted, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwajuren said the exercise is not new because the Bank Employee’s Declaration of Assets Act is as old as the Commission. “We are enforcing existing law”, he said. Asked how the Commission would handle the cases of disengaged bank employees found culpable and who did not execute the asset declaration form, Uwajuren said, “I do not want to speculate. When we get there you will know what happens”.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
